Learning To Breathe
by Fleetingdejavu
Summary: AUHuman When Bella graduated she agreed to give up her dreams and stay in town going to community college with her boyfriend, but when he flunks out she decides it's time to go after what she wants. Can Edward and Co. help her see what life can really be?
1. Wonderful Day

"Margarita for you, margarita for me." I pushed myself up on my elbows and took the drink from Angela, smiling my thanks.

"God I love Mexico. I could lay here in the sun for the rest of my life." She laughed at that but rolled her eyes. "Honestly. I could. This beach is the greatest place in the world." Just as the words left my mouth two beautiful men walked past us and we stared after them unabashedly.

"You may just be right." I looked over at her and her head was still twisted, watching them as one of them shoved the other one into an incoming wave. I covered my mouth, trying not to snicker but the attempt failed miserably and soon we were both laughing hysterically.

"See? Now aren't you glad I insisted on this trip? What better way is there to celebrate graduation than laying on a beach drinking margaritas, surrounded by men who look like that?" She grabbed her drink and held it up toward me.

"To your brilliant idea." A quick toast and a long drink and I settled back on my towel basking in the warmth from the sun and the sound of the ocean. I had just started to doze off when an annoying buzzing filled the air.

"Angela, turn off your phone. You're ruining it." She didn't answer me and I forced myself to open my eyes. For a second I was horribly confused. Where'd the striking blue sky go? And why was I shivering?

"SHIT!!" I wasn't on a beach in Mexico three years ago. Oh no. I was in a crappy little motel room on the most uncomfortable bed in the world, looking up at a ceiling with a rather disturbing orange stain that looked as if it had been there for some time. And the buzzing? That would be my alarm clock telling me it was ten thirty, that I had overslept, and that I had class in half an hour. My first day of classes, at the college I had just transferred to, which was twenty minutes away from this crappy little motel room. I flung myself out of the bed but my legs were tangled in the scratchy piece of fabric they claimed was a comforter and in true Bella style I fell, whacking my elbow on the bedside table and my head on the wall. Kicking wildly I managed to get my feet free and rushed to the tiny bathroom with the smallest shower I had ever seen in my life, rubbing my head as I went. The water was cold, and in my rush I got shampoo in my eyes and wondered briefly if blinding myself would be an acceptable excuse for missing the first day of classes. Somehow I doubted it.

Less than ten minutes later I was dressed in the first thing my hands had landed on and I was running out the door, my shoes and all the books I could find in one hand, my currently empty backpack in the other. Halfway down the hall I realized I had left my room key on the bathroom counter and I groaned, but I had my truck keys and I didn't have time to worry about it then. I would just have to deal with it after classes. Pushing the door to the parking lot open I saw that it was raining. Not just raining, but pouring.

"Perfect. Just perfect. Really, I don't think this day could get any better." I hadn't realized that the thirty year old loser that still lived with his parents who worked at the front desk was leaning against the wall to my left smoking, and he gave me a very odd look seeing as I was talking to myself. I glared at him and made a mad dash across the puddle laden pavement to my truck, soaking my jeans and covering my feet in mud. Juggling everything I was holding I managed to get the door unlocked and threw everything in my arms to the passenger seat before jumping up into the cab and slamming the door against the rain. Not that it mattered, I hadn't thought to put on a jacket and I was soaking wet.

The drive to campus was a blur, I pushed my old truck as hard as I dared, taking advantage of stoplights to shove everything into my bag and try to get the mud off of my feet before pulling on socks and shoving my feet into my shoes. I couldn't help but shudder at the feeling of the mud between my toes. Oh yes, it was going to be a just wonderful day.

By the time I reached the parking lot class had already started, and of course the only open spot was about as far from the building my class was in as humanly possible, and the rain hadn't let up at all. I got quite a lot of odd looks as I ran across campus, no longer caring about the puddles that were covering my jeans in mud. Three very long flights of stairs later I stopped outside the door of my classroom and opened it as quietly as I could. But being the wonderful day that it was it let out a loud squeak and a hundred sets of eyes turned to look at me. A few snickers were let out here and there and I realized I must look like a drowned rat.

"Nice of you to join us, kindly take a seat." I felt my face turning bright red as the professor went back to talking about the syllabus and I slid into an empty seat in the back row, cringing as I felt water dripping down my back from my hair. I quickly pulled out a notebook and a pen and started taking notes on what he was saying. Glancing around I saw that everybody else had a nicely typed up syllabus for the class but going and asking for one right now was the absolute last thing I was going to do.

Ten or so minutes passed and my face had finally gone back to its normal pale shade when I felt somebody slide into the seat next to me. For a moment a felt a flash of satisfaction that somebody had been later than me, but it faded when I realized that they had managed to sneak in without attracting the attention of the entire class.

"Did you fall in a lake or something?" I turned to glare at whoever had come in after me and found myself looking at a very large, very well defined shoulder. Blinking I looked up at his face and saw that he was very, very hot. And large. He was easily a head and shoulders taller than me. Of course the smirk and raised eyebrow ruined the whole effect for me and I turned back to my 

paper, ignoring him. He chuckled and leaned back in his chair, looking around the room. Trying to ignore him I was furiously writing down the description the professor was giving for the format of the tests. Out of the corner of my eye I saw his hand creeping toward my paper and he pushed the corner of my notebook, making the word I was writing end in a strange scribble.

"What?" I hissed at him, still refusing to look at him.

"Can I borrow a pen?" I flicked the one I was holding toward him and reached in my bag for another one for me. "Pink? You're going to make me write in pink?"

"Take it or leave it." The girl in the seat in front of us turned around to glare, but when her eyes landed on the mountain of a man sitting next to me she gave him a sly smile, which I assume he must have returned because she giggled and turned back to the front of the room, but immediately pulled her hair out of the ponytail it had been in and started running her fingers through it. I rolled my eyes at the back of her head and felt my neighbor shaking in silent laughter. Another minute passed his hand made its way back toward my notebook. This time I slid it further away from him but he ignored me and wrote 'hi' in the margin in very messy handwriting. I did my best to keep ignoring him but it must have been bugging him because he shoved my hand out of the way and quickly scrawled 'hello?'.

"What do you want?" I grumbled at him, starting to get really annoyed.

"Can I have some paper?" This time I turned to look at him in disbelief.

"You came to class with no pen and no paper? Are you kidding me?" He gave me a lopsided smile and shrugged his very large shoulders. I shook my head and flipped to the back of my notebook and ripped out a few pages and shoved them at him, hoping he would leave me alone then. The teacher had finished with the syllabus and had begun our first lecture, on the history of Shakespeare's life, and I thought he was taking notes just like I was. When a piece of paper folded like an envelope addressed to 'The girl sitting next to me who I think wants to kill me' was plopped on the page of notes I was taking. With a sigh I pushed it to the side and ignored it. I felt him leaning toward me and in a not so quite whisper he said,

"You have to open it."

"No, I don't. I have to take notes."

"It is a note. Ha! You have to take it." I looked at him out of the corner of my eye and saw that he was pathetically pleased with himself for making that little connection. I continued to ignore the folded piece of paper and a minute later he leaned back over.

"You know I'm just going to bug you until you read it. I can be very annoying when I want to be."

"No, really?" At the sarcastic tone in my voice he simply pushed it back onto my notebook and with an exasperated sigh I opened it as quietly as I could. The girl in front of us, who had clearly been listening to every word he said half turned in her seat to glare at me, but this time I doubted it was because of the noise we were making. Flattening the folds out of the paper I saw that he had written 'Thanks for the paper on the first line, and the rest of the paper was taken up by a childish drawing of a lake and a figure I could only assume was me falling into it. Underneath it said "Really, did you fall in a lake? And where did you find a lake? Or was it just a really big puddle. You are quite small, a really big puddle could be like a lake to you. Well, maybe not a lake. But a pond. Did you fall in a puddle pond?" He had signed it 'Emmett'. I just sat there staring at it for a minute, wondering if this Emmett character was for real. He had actually spent the class period drawing a picture to make fun of my sopping appearance on MY paper with MY pen?

"You have to write me back. It's proper note etiquette." Turning to look at him I met his eyes and crumpled the paper in my hand before throwing it at his forehead. He burst out laughing and the professor cleared his throat, looking pointedly at us. I shrank down in my chair, feeling my cheeks turn bright red once again. He was still chuckling next to me, and I tried my best to take detailed notes for the last ten minutes of class, pretending like Emmett wasn't there. But just as the teacher was finishing and telling us our homework assignment he shoved the picture in front of me again with one change. He had colored the drawing Bella's cheeks bright pink. This time I started ripping the paper into little pieces and then shoved them all back in front of him, but not before ripping my pen out of his very large hand. The other students were starting to pack up their bags and I followed suite, hoping Emmet, who hadn't brought anything with him to class, would leave before I was finished. No such luck. The girl who had been sitting in front of us turned to him with a bright smile.

"Hey, I missed the reading assignment. What was it again?" He smiled back at her leaned forward, beckoning for her to do the same. Her bleached blond bangs fell into her eyes and she looked at him eagerly, obviously not caring in the least about the reading assignment.

"I'll let you in on a little secret." She giggled at that and whispered something I didn't catch in his ear. "I wasn't paying attention at all. I was trying to figure out where the nearest lake was." A look of confusion filled her face and he jerked his thumb toward me. "This one, however, has an incredibly ability to actually pay attention to the teacher despite my trying to entertain her. I'm sure she got the assignment." The girl flicked her eyes to me and glared yet again, before mumbling that she would just get it from her friend and stalking off. The moment she was out the door Emmet started laughing and I slapped his shoulder.

"That was just mean. She obviously wanted a… study partner. You could have at least been nice to her."

"I was nice. It's not my fault I'm very selective when it comes to my study partners." He raised his eyebrows at that and I rolled my eyes as I walked past him.

"I doubt that." I had been hoping to offend him into leaving me alone but he just laughed and followed me out of the room.

"So what's your name."

"Steve McQueen."

"Where's the other Magnificent Six?" If we hadn't been going down the stairs I would have stopped to look at him in surprise. He actually knew who Steve McQueen was?

"You think you're so clever don't you." I was in front of him but I could hear the smile in his voice when he replied with a simple 'yes.' When we reached the bottom floor I was relieved to see the rain had stopped, but the sky was still oppressively grey and held the promise of more rain later on. We hadn't gone more than five feet when he dramatically jumped in front of me and steered me around him.

"What are you doing?" This boy was really starting to bother me…

"There was a puddle. I didn't want you to fall into it, you're finally starting to dry off." It suddenly became very clear to me. He had a death wish. He was going to pester me and tease me until I finally snapped and killed him. Of course, killing him might prove to be a bit difficult. He was even taller than I had thought he was, and heavily muscled. Then again, since he clearly wanted to die maybe he would make it easy for me and bend down so I could reach his head more easily. My thoughts must have shown on my face because he burst out laughing again and I shoved past him. I only had a few more minutes until my next class started and I absolutely refused to be late again today. I tried to storm off but the toe of my shoe caught on the uneven sidewalk and I stumbled a bit, and I heard him laughing even more loudly behind me.

"Bye Steve!" I didn't look back at him. I completely ignored him, and for the first time he let me. As I hurried into the building I was heading for I decided that tomorrow I would get up extra early and sit somewhere in the middle of the Shakespeare classroom, that way he wouldn't be able to find me and bother me again.

The rest of the day passed rather uneventfully. I took notes, kept my head down, and didn't attract the attention of any other professors. I also didn't talk to anybody else in any of 

my other classes. At one point I had ducked into the bathroom and was slightly horrified at the mess reflected at me in the mirror. My hair had never fully dried, and hung damp and frizzy in knots down my back. The green t-shirt I had put on had a pathetic picture of a dog on it, and my jeans were covered in mud up to my knees. My pale skin looked sallow and nearly transparent, my eyes were still red from the shampoo, and I had a nasty bruise already forming where I had hit my elbow trying to fight my way out of the bed.

When my last class had finally finished it was once again pouring, and I trudged dejectedly back to my truck, which looked very lonely in the far corner of the parking lot. Of course there were hundreds of open parking spots now. Figured. I was starving; I hadn't had a bite to eat all day and ended up spending nearly twenty bucks at Taco Bell. I knew there was no way I was going to be able to eat all of the food, but it had been so hard to decide what I wanted, so I had just ended up getting everything that looked good.

Sure enough I ended up throwing half of it away by the time I reached the motel, already feeling slightly nauseous from the massive amounts of grease I had just consumed. It had taken some convincing and pleading to get the guy who had heard me talking to myself this morning to give me the spare key to my room so I could get in, and he had made a point to remind me that I had to pay on every Friday. As I entered the tiny, dingy room I resolved to start looking for somewhere permanent to live as soon as I got on campus tomorrow.

After a couple of hours of reading various books for my classes and I changed into pajamas and cringed as I climbed into bed. It had not magically gotten more comfortable while I was at school. Even so, the day had been just miserable enough to exhaust me, and I fell deeply asleep within just a few minutes.

A/N: Well, here it is, my first Twilight Fanfic. I hope you guys liked it, I had a lot of fun writing it. Let me know what you thought! Oh, and also, I don't own anything you recognize.


	2. Fate

I was pulled from my slumber by the familiar tune playing on my phone, and opened my eyes just wide enough to see the obscene hour before flipping it open.

"Mike, it's two in the morning." I had never been a very happy person when it came to waking up.

"Bells… Hey." My long time boyfriend seemed almost surprised to hear me on the other end.

"Why are you calling me right now Mike? It's the middle of the night." I heard muffled laughing, as if he was holding the phone away from him. Some loud thumping song was playing in the background as well, and some muffled voices.

"Oops. I was just thinking… remember senior prom?" Oh yes I remembered it, as one of the worst nights of my life. I hadn't wanted to go in the first place, I hated dances. And the idea of getting all dolled up and spending huge amounts of money for one night of awkward rubbing up against people you didn't particularly like seeing on a daily basis as it was had never appealed to me. However, it was also the night that Mike and I had gotten into a huge fight. He wanted me to stay with him and go to community college, get an apartment, and move in together. I wanted to go to a four year university. I'd been accepted at quite a few places, and I wanted to major in Literature. I believe his exact words when I told him that were 'You're such an idiot Bells. Lit majors never end up doing anything. They never make any money.' We had been fighting about it for weeks, and it all came to a head that prom night. He had given me an ultimatum. Either I go to the community college he was going to, or we were over. We had been dating for two years at that point, and I loved him. But more importantly, I was terrified of life without him. When we started dating, I was new to the school. His friends became my friends. I took the same classes as him; I worked at his parent's store. He was the first boy I had ever kissed. The first boy I had ever loved. He told me he wouldn't be able to stand losing me, that his life would be meaningless without me, and I had believed him. At the time I hadn't wondered why he said his life would be empty without me but was willing to end it if I went away to college. I had been young, and stupid and naive. I had wasted two years taking business classes with him, helping him with his tests and papers, and he had still managed to flunk out. And when he did I had told him I was going to a four year college no matter what he said. To my surprise, he had told me it was a good idea. That the distance would make us stronger, that we would be together forever no matter where we were. And so I had gone, and he had stayed. It had all been really last minute, which was why I was stuck living out of this dingy room. I hadn't had time to arrange for a place to live before I moved.

"Yes…" I replied cautiously. Had he changed his mind? Was he going to be upset that I had moved now?

"Where'd all the pictures from that night go?" At his words I seriously considered hanging up on him. He knew I had class in the morning and he was calling me in the middle of the night to find out where I had put the pictures from prom night? I wasn't even sure if I remembered where they were. And as much as I wanted to slam the phone shut and throw it across the room I knew it would just lead to a fight, and I didn't have the energy.

"Maybe in a box in the hall closet?"

"Which one?"

"I have no idea. I don't have the contents of the hall closet memorized. Just go look." This time I defiantly heard other people laughing in the background and somebody yell 'shot time'. The middle of a Monday night and he had who knows how many people over drinking. The sad thing was I wasn't in the least bit surprised. It had certainly happened before. "What do you want them for anyways?"

"We want to look at them." I heard some scrambling and then a crash. My guess was everything that had been in the closet was now scattered across the floor.

"We who?"

"Everyone who was in the limo that night. Except you. You aren't here."

"Brilliant deductive skills." Either he ignored me or was too drunk to figure out what I had meant. There was more crashing and then a triumphant 'I found them' to the people in the apartment and the line went dead. Not even a thank you or a goodbye. With an angry sigh I fumbled to get the phone back onto the bedside table and tried to fall back asleep.

The rest of the night I tossed and turned, halfway dreaming about the many fights Mike and I had had since moving in together. Needless to say my brilliant plan to wake up early failed, and while I wasn't as late as I had been the day before I still only managed to slip into class right as the professor started lecturing. At least I had managed to dry my hair and bring a jacket with me to protect against the rain that hadn't stopped falling. Dejectedly I took the same seat as before and tried to focus on my notes, hoping Emmett would not show up at all.

"Morning Steve." No such luck. How was it managed to sneak in so quietly? "You look very nice today."

"If by nice you mean I don't look like I fell in a, what was it? A puddle pond? Then maybe you're right."

"Yup. It was a puddle pond. You should know better than me, you're the one who fell in it." I cast a glare in his direction but he ignored it completely. "So wanna know what my goal for today is?"

"Have an actual thought?"

"Ha ha very funny. Nope, I'm gonna find out what your real name is."

"No you aren't."

"Yes I am." We were starting to attract odd looks from the people around us so I just shook my head at him. "It doesn't matter if you won't just tell me. Besides, that wouldn't be any fun. I'm going to guess. And when I guess it right you won't even have to tell me it's right because you have the most expressive face of anybody I've ever met and there's no way you could successfully lie about anything. Ever." I spun to face him, glaring at him yet again.

"I do not have 'the most expressive face ever' and I can lie with the best of them."

"Then why are you turning red?" He was right. I could feel the blood rushing to my face. He was also right about the lying thing… I was terrible at it. But there was no way I was going to tell him that.

"Probably because you are the most frustrating person on the face of this earth." I felt him lean in close to me and could feel his breath on my neck as he whispered into my ear.

"I frustrate you, do I?" Deciding to have a little fun I turned to face him, painfully close to his face, our lips just inches apart.

"Oh yes. You've no idea how much." His eyes widened and just as he started to smile I elbowed him in the side as hard as I could. "But it's not the good kind of frustration." Apparently I hadn't hurt him a bit, all he did was laugh and scoot a bit further away from me, studying me with a smile.

"Cassy. Cassy's are usually pretty spunky."

"My name isn't Cassy."

"You take an awful lot of notes though. Emily's always take a lot of notes."

"How many Emily's have you ever known?"

"None. But I think they would take a lot of notes."

"That's ridiculous. People's names don't reflect their personalities."

"Of course they do. Just take me for example. 'Emmett' is a fun name. I'm a fun guy. Outgoing, enthusiastic, name… personality. They always match." I rolled my eyes at him and went back to taking notes. Every few minutes he would come up with a new name, never getting any closer to the right answer.

"I think I know what my problem is."

"You have a whole lot more than one problem, but congratulations on identifying one. Now be quiet and work on it." Once again he just ignored me and kept talking.

"I'm drawing from the wrong aspects of your personality. Once I figure out what defines you the best then I'll figure out your name in no time."

"I'm not quite that easy to figure out."

"Hmm… Complicated. That would make you a Jessica."

"Do I look like a Jessica?" he smirked, amused by my reaction to the name.

"So you really don't like the name Jessica. It must be something more unique then. Something special that you don't hear every day." He fell silent then, a look of heavy concentration filling his features. I took advantage of his silence to try and to catch up in my notes, silently thanking my high school English teacher for spending so much time on Hamlet. I could afford to miss a few things here and there now. He remained silent for the rest of the class period and waited with me as I packed up my stuff. He didn't even have a backpack with him. I couldn't help but wonder why he came to class at all. He didn't say a word until we were outside, and I was about to split off from him and go to my next class.

"Isabel." I tried. I tried so hard to keep my face a blank mask, but I knew I was failing when his own face broke into a triumphant smile.

"Isabella, actually. But I go by Bella." I half way wanted to ask him how he had done it, but he would probably launch into some long ridiculous explanation about how my inability to lie combined with my tendency to fall into puddle ponds only allowed for a few name possibilities and given my studious nature that narrowed it down even further. The boy was absurd.

"Ha! Told you I would figure out your name. And now, with my goal of the day complete, I am going to go home and go back to bed."

"It's not even one! Don't you have other classes?" He shrugged his shoulders and smiled at me, walking backwards so he could keep talking to me.

"There's nobody to keep my interest in my other classes. See you tomorrow _Bella_." He overemphasized my name, clearly proud of himself for figuring it out. I just shook my head and hurried to my next class, grabbing a newspaper on the way. This morning I had decided I needed to get out of that motel room as soon as possible, and so when I took my seat I pulled out the newspaper and started circling ads looking for roommates. Some were quite a bit out of my price range, a few were only looking for male roommates, one of them was looking for an eighth roommate, I skipped over that one as well. There was no way I could live with seven other people. By the time I had gone through them all I had twelve different ads circled, all of them within ten minutes of campus and somewhat reasonable as far as the price went.

That night after classes I started calling them. The first one said somebody had called early that morning and the room wasn't available anymore. The second ones number had been disconnected, the third one I left a message. I dialed the fourth one and a guy answered it on the first ring.

"I already told you I don't care what flavor you get; just get enough for a couple hundred Jell-O shots man!" He obviously hadn't looked at the caller id, and I hung up without saying a word. I was not living somewhere that needed a couple hundred Jell-O shots. No way.

The fifth, sixth, and seventh numbers I called had all found somebody already, and I was starting to think it was a lost cause. There were probably hundreds of people looking for a place to live close to campus right now, what if I didn't find anything? What was I going to do? I was currently sitting in a coffee shop, avoiding that dingy motel room as much as possible. Staying there much longer just wasn't an option for me. It was horrible, I hated it. Maybe I would talk to Mike about the rent on our apartment back home. I was still paying for half of it every month, even though I wasn't living there. I didn't have much of a choice, my name was on the lease and it was only a one bedroom, Mike couldn't have somebody else move in. I knew he had picked up some more hours at work though, if he could swing more of the rent for that place then maybe I could afford on a one bedroom here…

Almost as soon as I thought it I knew it was a lost cause. Mike would throw a fit if I tried to get out of paying rent on that apartment. I guess I would just have to hope I got lucky and one of these places still needed a roommate.

Luck was nowhere to be found though. I was on the eleventh one, and all the others I had called had already found somebody. A guy answered on the third ring, and there was no talk of Jell-O shots. That was encouraging.

"Hi, I was just calling about the ad you have in the paper looking for a roommate. Is the room still open."

"Yeah, it is. We had a couple people call earlier today but we haven't met with them yet. What's your name?"

"Bella. I just moved here and I'm looking for something I can move into as soon as possible."

"I bet you are." His voice had dropped a few octaves, and I wondered fleetingly if he was trying to come onto me. I decided he couldn't be, I hadn't even said anything that could be remotely dirty. "The empty room is in the basement, right next to mine. You know, it gets pretty cold down there in the winter. You'll want to make sure you have plenty of blankets." His voice dripped with suggestion, and I don't think I had ever heard the word 'blankets' sound so much like 'condoms' before in my entire life. I didn't even bother to say goodbye, I just hung up the phone. This was clearly hopeless, and the coffee shop was closing in ten minutes. I was horribly tempted to just throw the paper away and forget about the last number, and just start fresh tomorrow. But I knew I would regret it later if I didn't try so I slowly punched in the last number, leaning my head on my hand as I let it ring.

Faintly I noticed the song 'Barbie Girl' playing on somebody's phone and smiled. I hadn't heard that song in ages.

"Hello?" It had almost sounded like I heard the word from the phone and from somewhere behind me. I shook my head a bit, annoyed that my phone was doing the echo-y thing.

"Hi, I was just calling about your ad in the newspaper for a roommate."

"Where are you?" Again, with the weird echo-y thing. It must have been a bad connection because the girl on the other end sounded just as puzzled as I felt.

"Excuse me?"

"No no no, I'm not a creeper or anything, but where are you right now?"

"At a Starbucks, look we must have a bad connection or something-"

"Where in Starbucks?" Yep. It was starting to get creepy.

"Ok, look, I think I'm just going to go…"

"No! I keep hearing you in both of my ears; we must be in the same Starbucks." At that I looked around me, and sure enough on the other side of the store two girls were sitting at a table, one of them with a phone pressed to her ear looking around wildly. Grabbing my coffee I started weaving through the tables towards them when the one on the phone caught sight of me and waved enthusiastically. She was short and pixyish, with short black hair that stuck out every which way. I couldn't help but notice she was dressed impeccably. The other girl was sitting with her back to me, but she had long flowing blond hair and was wearing expensive looking clothes as well. It was probably a good thing that I couldn't see her face until I was nearly at the table, because while the short one was beautiful, the blond was flawless. I had never been the kind of girl to be intimidated around other women, but this one looked as if she had just stepped out of a magazine. Sadly I looked down at my worn jeans and hoodie that I was wearing with my muddy shoes and my hair in a messy bun. Figures.

"That's so weird that we were in the same coffee shop when you called! It's fate, it must be fate. We've been getting calls all day long from total freak shows, and we just had to keep turning them down. We were starting to think we would never find anyone to move in with us! I'm Alice by the way." Her enthusiasm was contagious and I found myself smiling at them both as I took the empty seat at their table.

"I'm Rosalie. You'll have to excuse Alice here, she thinks she's psychic and just before you called she said she thought something good was about to happen."

"I didn't _think_ something good was going to happen, I _felt_ that something good was going to happen. And I am psychic. I know these things." Rosalie rolled her eyes and gave me a warm smile.

"And you are?"

"Bella." Before I had a chance to say anything else Alice broke back in.

"Sorry if I freaked you out on the phone. But I knew something good was going to happen, and then you called and you were here, I'm telling you its fate. You're meant to be our roommate." She was practically bouncing up and down in her chair she was so excited. "When do you want to move in? You can as soon as you want you know. I mean, you could even move in tonight if you wanted to. It's been empty for weeks, we've been searching and searching and all there seems to be out there is total weirdo's who I'd never ever live with, I mean, the last thing I want is to wake up and find somebody standing over me with a knife or something, you know?" It was all a little overwhelming, so I turned to Rosalie.

"Isn't there anything you want to know about me first?" She just shrugged her shoulders.

"Alice is a ridiculously good judge of character. She hasn't been wrong about somebody yet. Besides, when she gets her little _feelings_ it's impossible to change her mind. If it doesn't work out then we'll deal with that then, but we aren't going to figure out if we will make good 

or bad roommates sitting in a coffee shop. Also, I'm really sick of having all of Alice's attention focused on me all the time." I smiled at that while Alice pouted. I couldn't believe my luck. I felt like I would really be able to get along with these two. And I would be getting out of that motel room. I smiled more broadly as I thought of that. Maybe it was fate.

A/N: There you have it, the second chapter. I wanted to get some of Bella's back story going, I hope you liked it! Also, a big thanks to Savanna06 and Istalindar for reviewing, you guys really made my day!!


	3. The Apartment

"So where are you living now?" Rosalie laughed at the face I made.

"In this disgusting motel about twenty minutes from here. It's tiny and dark and smells like something died in it and there is an unidentified orange stain on the ceiling right above the bed. But it's the only thing I could find on such short notice…" They had both scrunched up their faces at the description I was giving them, and with a quick glance at each other Alice turned to me with a very serious expression.

"Well then you'll move in tonight. I'm guessing you don't have a whole lot of stuff with you if you're living out of a motel. Is the rest in storage?"

"No, most of my stuff I left with my boyfriend at our apartment. What I do have is in boxes under a tarp in the bed of my truck. Just the necessities are in the motel room." At that moment an annoyed looking girl with a green Starbucks apron came over to our table, her hands on her hips.

"You know, we closed five minutes ago. I'm going to have to ask you three to hurry up." Rosalie fixed her with an icy stare until the girl muttered something about company policy and hurried off.

"Rose, you've got to stop doing that to people. One wrong look from you and you can trigger a nervous breakdown."

"I know, it's a gift." At that moment a loud buzzing sounded from Rosalie's purse. As we stood up she reached a perfectly manicured hand into her purse and flipped open a slim silver phone.

"Hale." We followed her as she strode out the door, sending a glare at the girl standing impatiently next to it waiting to lock it. "No. I talked to him just last week, he told me it wouldn't be a problem anymore." There was a short pause. "Well who is delivering? Isn't it Kevin?"

"Rose runs a club downtown; her dad owns hundreds all over the world, in all the major cities. Last year she finally convinced him to let her take over one here. Pulse was absolutely failing when she started, now it's one of the hottest nightclubs around. Daddy was so proud he bought her that." She pointed to a red BMW convertible parked a few spaces down from my truck. It was clear that these two were incredibly rich, why were they looking for a roommate?

"Missy, just calm down, I'm on my way now. Don't let him leave. I don't care what you have to do to keep him there, if he's gone when I get there you'd better be gone too." With that she snapped her phone shut and turned to us with an apologetic look on her face.

"We're having problems with the shipment; I've got to get down there right away."

"No problem. I'll just ride with Bella and direct her back to the apartment." She turned to look at me then, a bright smile on her face. "If that's ok with you of course."

"Look, I really don't want to cause you guys any trouble, I can just move in later this week…"

"Nope. Tonight." Alice's tone left no room for argument. Rosalie took that as a sign that she could leave and hopped in her car, taking off at a breakneck pace.

"Shall we?" Alice nodded at me and I unlocked the door of my truck. I had to climb up in it before unlocking the passenger side door. As much as I loved my truck, there were times when I was ready for something different. Especially whenever I had to get gas for it. Those days always made me sad.

"So what are you majoring in?" For a moment I hesitated to answer. Mike's constant ridicule of it always made me wonder if other people would think I was being an idiot too.

"Literature. I want to teach someday though."

"So why no education major?"

"I want to teach at a Waldorf school, they have their own certification process I would have to go through anyway." When I was fifteen I had started babysitting for a family with two kids who attended a Waldorf school and I had really loved the way they were taught. Ever since then it had been in the back of my mind, and when I had started signing up for classes here I had finally decided that I wanted to pursue it. I actually hadn't told Mike yet, I just didn't want to deal with him whining about the fact that I wouldn't be making very much money. Alice didn't mock me though, and looked genuinely interested. It was a nice change. "What about you?"

"Oh I'm a fashion major. I'm working as a personal shopper right now which is a lot of fun, but I want to design my own clothing line. The apartment actually has four bedrooms, but I kinda took over the extra one. Don't worry, it's the smallest one, your room is actually quite large. It was just, either take over the spare room or half of the living room. At least this way I can close the door on the mess now and then, you know?" I nodded in her direction as I turned into the parking lot of the motel. I heard a muffled 'eww' from Alice and couldn't help but laugh.

"Yeah, this place is pretty awful. You've no idea how excited I am to get out of here." The rain had finally stopped, which was a very good thing because all the stuff I had in the 

motel room was going to have to go in the back, and there was no more tarp to cover it up with. Alice followed me down the hall to room number 136, trying very hard not to look around her with disgust. As we passed the front desk the same guy who was always working stood up, leaning over the counter and yelling at our retreating backs that he wouldn't stand for any 'noisy gatherings'. I chose to ignore him, Alice however turned back and winked at him, causing him to sputter and turn red before leaning back into his little area.

"Ones like him are just too easy. All you have to do is wink or lick your lips and they're eating out of the palm of your hand."

"I don't know about you, but I most defiantly don't want him eating off of any of my appendages." Alice laughed loudly at that, agreeing with me as I unlocked the door to my room and pushed the door open. I really didn't have all that much to pack up, about a week worth of clothes that I threw back into my suitcase without bothering to fold them, the rest of my school stuff, and my make-up and shampoo and conditioner. While I gathered up my meager belongings Alice wandered carefully around the room, a horrified look on her face.

"Alright, I'm ready, let's go."

"Bella, this place needs to be reported. I don't know who to, but this is disgusting. It can't be up to code…"

"I've seen worse." She looked at me sympathetically and I got the distinct feeling that we came from two very different backgrounds.

"You poor thing. We have to get you out of here." The man at the front desk seemed only too glad to be rid of me, which was ridiculous. So I talked to myself once. Just once! It didn't make me crazy, though he sure seemed to think so.

Alice and Rosalie hadn't been kidding about their apartment being difficult to find, getting downtown had been easy, but then she started directing me through a maze of one way streets past building after building, all of which looked the same to me. Tall. It would take a while for me to figure out how to get around, and I might be wrong but I was pretty sure that campus was in walking distance.

"There! Turn right there!" I slammed on the breaks and turned where she pointed and found myself entering an underground parking garage. As soon as the ground evened out again I had to slow down and stop at a gate.

"Roll down your window and lean back." I did as Alice said and she leaned across me, smiling widely at the security guard. "Hey Sam!"

"Hello Ms. Brandon, how are you tonight?"

"Oh I'm wonderful Sam. This is Bella…" She paused and I whispered my last name to her. "Swan. Bella Swan. She's moving in with us starting tonight so memorize her pretty face and let the other guys know not to stop her, ok?"

"I'll be sure to do that Ms. Brandon. Do you want me to put in a request for a permanent parking spot for her?"

"Yes please!" He hit a button inside his plexi-glass booth and the striped barrier rose quickly into the air.

"Welcome to the building Ms. Swan." I smiled at him and revved the engine, blushing as the sound echoed off of the walls making it sound even louder.

"So where do I park?"

"You can park in my spot for now, I don't have a car at the moment. It's ridiculous, my dad decided it needed to be painted or something and I haven't seen it for weeks. It's that one right there." As I pulled in I couldn't help but notice that every single other car in the parking lot was small. And sleek. And very very very expensive looking. I was going to be paranoid about scratching one the entire time I lived here, I knew it. We both jumped out of the cab and I slung my backpack over my shoulder before locking the doors and going around to the bed. To my surprise there were five men there, already unloading my boxes and disappearing through a door.

"Can I take your bag Miss?" One of the men was standing in front of me, his arm extended and I hesitantly handed him my backpack and went over to Alice who was smiling broadly.

"Where did they come from? How'd they know…"

"Oh I'm sure Sam called them down. The guys here absolutely love us. Of course, it might be because we live in the penthouse but I think it's because of our wonderfully perky dispositions."

"The penthouse?" I must have sounded just as baffled as I felt because she just smiled at me and grabbed my hand, dragging me along behind her and the men. She pulled us into an elevator and punched a code into the keypad on the wall.

"77945 will take you right up to our apartment. You're going to love it!" She was smiling broadly and bouncing a bit.

"Where'd all the guys go?" We were the only ones in the elevator.

"A different elevator to the floor below ours, they'll have to take the stairs up to our place. Only the manager of the building knows the code except for us." I felt kind of bad about them having to take the stairs, but she didn't seem concerned so I didn't say anything. When the elevator doors slid open Alice jumped out excitedly, but it took me a moment to find the use of my legs again. It was, by far, the most amazing apartment I had ever seen. The elevator opened into a small entry way, with a door next to it which she immediately opened for the men carrying my boxes.

"This way boys." They followed her and I trailed along behind them, trying to take in everything at once. The floors were a beautiful somewhat red wood tone, and from what I could tell the extended throughout the whole apartment. To my left was a kitchen with black granite countertops and stainless steel appliances. The island had several tall bar-stools around it, and just past that there was a large black table in a corner surrounded by windows. Straight ahead was a long black couch, with several black chairs around it as well. A large plasma screen TV hung on the wall across from the couch, and the one remaining wall was dominated by floor to ceiling windows, with a view of the ocean. To the right of the entry way was a flight of stairs leading up to a loft area. Alice and the others had made their way up them, so I quickly followed. In the loft was another couch and chair, and a large L-shaped desk covered in papers and books. Branching off from the loft were four doors, and I was led to the very last one. The men had already set my boxes neatly in a corner and Alice was thanking them and sending them on their way. I smiled my thanks as well but I was distracted by how beautiful the room was. It was painted a deep grey-blue and it too had a wall that was mostly taken up by windows. The wall directly across from the windows was composed of built in bookshelves, something I had always wanted. At the far end there was an archway which led to the most amazing bathroom I had ever seen. There was a large walk-in closet, a big old fashioned claw-foot tub, a separate shower which was done in shiny blue tiles, and a long counter below a huge mirror.

As amazing as everything was, I was started to get a sinking feeling in my stomach.

"Alice?"

"Isn't it amazing Bella? You're going to love it here! Come on, I'll show you the rest!" I didn't let her pull me out of the room though.

"Alice, the ad said that rent was only five hundred and fifty a month. There's no way I can afford this place…"

"Sure you can! My dad owns this building. He wanted me to just live here for free but I hate it when people just depend on their parent's money. He settled on giving us a huge discount. Technically we could still charge roommates what the place is really worth, but I'd feel horrible. Not to mention the fact that most rich people are insufferable to live with."

"This place is really only 550 a month? I can really live here?" Her face split into a large smile and I squealed, throwing myself at her and hugging her. "Thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you!"

"Come on, I'll show you the rest." Her sewing room was just as chaotic as she had made it sound, and in the few spots where I could see the walls peeking out behind posters and fabric swatches I could see that it was painted a lavender color. Rosalie's room was done in dark red tones, and a large portion of it was taken up by the biggest bed I had ever seen, piled high with pillows. "Rose is a bit obsessed with sleep. If she gets less than ten hours she thinks the world is ending… At least that's why she claims she has a giant bed. I, however, have my doubts about that motivation…" We both laughed as she pulled me into her room which looked just as I expected it to, bright and cheerful. "Alright, I have to show you this one last thing and then I'll let you get settled in. Follow me." She went back downstairs to the door that she had opened to let the men in from and to my surprise there was a set of stairs leading both up and down. She bounded up the first one and typed another code into the door before pushing it open.

"It's the same code that you use for the elevator. We're the only people in the building that have access to this." At the word 'this' she threw out her arms, spinning around in a circle. We were on the roof of the building, with a perfect, unobstructed view of the sea to the west, and the rest of downtown to the east. It truly was amazing. There was a small table and chairs off to one side, and a bar to the other. It would be perfect for drinking coffee in the morning, or entertaining at night. "So? What do you think?"

"It's incredible Alice. It really is."

"I knew you'd love it! Ok, let's get that couch in your room for tonight."

"Wait, what?" But she had already disappeared back inside and I ran after her, wondering what on earth she was talking about.

"You don't have a bed, and you can't sleep on the floor, and I'm pretty sure that the places where one buys a bed are all closed by now, so we'll just move the upstairs couch into your room."

"No, Alice, you don't have to do that. I'll just sleep on it out here. It's fine, really." She completely ignored me, however, and dashed into her room and into her closet. She came 

back out a moment later, completely invisible behind the large pile of pillows and blankets she was struggling with. Before I could move to help her she plopped them down on the couch and hurried around to stand at one end of it.

"Nope, not a chance. Rose doesn't get home from work until two or three, and I refuse to have you woken up in the middle of the night on your first night here. We'll just move this into your room and then you'll be able to sleep a whole lot better."

"Alice, we really don't have to…" She fixed me with an exasperated glare and I sighed, knowing I wasn't going to win this one. And so for the next twenty minutes we struggled with the couch, which was far heavier than it looked, until it was successfully in the empty room I was starting to think of as mine.

"If you need anything just let me know. Otherwise, make yourself at home!" She hugged me again before ducking out of the room, leaving me alone. I was actually glad to have some time to myself. It had been an insane couple of hours. I decided my best option was a long hot bath I dug through my boxes until I found a towel, some candles, and bubble bath stuff that smelled like flowers. Ten minutes later I was sinking into the water with a wide smile on my face. Tomorrow was going to be a good day, I could tell.

A/N: Hey guys! Sorry that not a whole lot happened in this chapter, but I had to get her moved in. And don't worry, she'll be meeting Edward soon! Thank you so so so much to everyone who reviewed, it really keeps me inspired and I write a whole lot more often!


	4. Ghost Busters

**A/N: Sorry this one took a bit longer to get to you, but it's a bit longer than the other ones have been so I hope that makes up for it! Enjoy!**

I was surprised at how well I slept on the couch, and for the first time I woke up when I wanted to and was able to take my time getting ready for class. After a long shower and thoroughly drying my hair I put my books in my bag and made my way down to the kitchen, hoping there was coffee I could make. I didn't have any food yet, so breakfast wasn't going to happen. At least, that's what I thought. It was only about nine thirty but Alice had obviously already been out and about. Sitting on the island was a basket of muffins and a drink carrier with four large coffees in it. The girl was nowhere to be found, but she had left a note next to them demanding I have some, letting me know again how glad they were to have me there, and that she would see me that afternoon. The door to Rosalie's room had been firmly shut, and I assumed she was still sleeping. I hadn't heard her come home last night, but Alice had said it would be late and I believed her. Running a club like that would probably be great, but I didn't think I would be able to handle the hours.

I took advantage of the sunlight to wander around the apartment, trying to get a feel for where we were in the city exactly. I had been right; campus was walking distance from where we were. That would certainly save me a lot of time in the mornings.

I still had about an hour before I needed to leave, so I sat down with a lemon poppy seed muffin and a cup of coffee and started making a list of what I needed to buy. As the list grew longer and longer I realized that I was definitely going to have to buy the big things used, like the bed and the desk and the bookshelves. I already had everything I needed, but Mike had convinced me that he needed it at the apartment back home. And so here I was, with little more than my clothes and my books. I had a decent amount of money saved up, but now that I was going to be paying two rents I knew I was going to have to be really careful about what I spent my money on.

I decided to leave a bit early, knowing me I would somehow manage to get lost on my way to campus. Since the sun was actually shining I decided to skip a jacket, even if it regretted it later on then at least I could pretend I lived somewhere with decent weather for a little while. Entering the elevator I looked at all of the buttons, deciding finally on the one marked lobby. I didn't want to walk though the garage since I wasn't driving, and when the door opened up I was slightly shocked at what I found, though I knew I shouldn't be. There were tall glass doors across the marble floor, a large desk with two professionally dressed people sitting behind it, a doorman, and flowers everywhere. It was beautiful, and again I was struck with the thought of how lucky I was to be living here.

As I made my way across the floor I noticed that I had exited from the middle elevator, and I silently marked that in my mind, as it was the only one of them that went up to our loft.

"Ah, you must be Ms. Swan. Ms. Brandon told us this morning that you had moved in. Welcome to the building." One of the men who was sitting behind the large desk had come out to shake my hand, smiling madly.

"Thank you."

"I have a few things for you, if you don't mind." Now I was glad I had come down a bit early, I didn't know I was going to be ambushed. It didn't take hardly any time though; all he had for me was a key for the mail box and a key for the side door, which I hadn't even found yet. I walked to class slowly, soaking up the sun that I so rarely saw. When I reached my classroom I thought about sitting in the middle so Emmett wouldn't be able to bother me, but I decided against it. At least the boy was entertaining. To my immense surprise he too arrived before class started, though only by a minute or so. He broke into a large grin upon seeing me and I couldn't help but smile back. His enthusiasm was contagious.

"You seem to be in a good mood this morning Steve."

"You know my name now, what's with the Steve?"

"Aaaand the good mood is gone."

"It is not, I am just curious." He observed me for a few moments, before he smiled broadly again.

"I like having names for people that nobody else uses. Do other people call you Steve?" I shook my head at him and a smug look filled his features.

"Well if you weren't going to call me Bella then why did you insist on finding out my name at all?"

"Just because I'm not going to call you it doesn't mean I don't deserve to know, right?" I think he was trying to look like a five year old girl batting her eyelashes to get something she wanted, but he just looked like an overgrown weirdo. When I didn't answer he started talking again. "So why such a good mood today?"

"I finally found a place to live."

"Wait, you _just_ found a place to live? Was that why you were soaking wet the first day? Were you sleeping outside?!" He looked and sounded half panicked and I got the devilish idea to mess with him a bit.

"Only for three nights. It really wasn't that big of a deal. I mean, yeah I looked like crap on my first day of classes and I risked getting pneumonia in all that rain, but there are worse things." His eyes were wide now, and his mouth was hanging open. Unfortunately he found his voice again right as the teacher started his lecture.

"Why didn't you tell me?!" The teacher gave us an exasperated look and I slapped Emmett on the shoulder. He quieted but didn't take his attention off of me. "Seriously Bella."

"Oh it's Bella now, is it?"

"You should have said something. You could have stayed with me. I would have insisted on it. I have a king size bed, it wouldn't have been any problem." It took all of my willpower to keep from bursting out laughing at that. I knew he was just trying to be nice, but he was coming off as a creeper.

"So after being pestered by you for an hour I was supposed to ask to stay with you, a complete stranger, who would have said yes because you have a king sized bed? Thanks but I'm not insane." At the king sized bed bit he actually almost blushed.

"That's not what I meant. I'd have slept on the couch of course. Unless you wanted me to sleep with you…" I smacked his shoulder again and he mumbled 'guess not' under his breath. "Really though Bella, you should have said something. It's dangerous in this city at night, especially for a little thing like you who looks like you could be snapped in half…"

"Gee thanks."

"Seriously Bella, you're incredibly lucky nothing happened to you." He paused for a moment and the panicked look came across his face again. "Wait, did something happen to you? Are you ok?!" I was touched by his concern and I felt a little bad for leading him on like I had.

"I'm fine Emmett. I was kidding, I wasn't staying outside, I was just in a really crappy motel. But I'm not anymore; I found an apartment last night." He seemed to be trying to decide if I was telling him the truth, and after a moment he abruptly turned away from me. I took the opportunity to start taking notes, but after almost ten minutes of silence I started to squirm a bit in my seat. Had I really upset him that much? I had just been joking. I peeked at him out of the corner of my eye and saw him lean forward and tap the girl in the row in front of us on the shoulder, whisper something to her, and with a slight giggle the girl handed him her pen and some paper from her notebook. Yep. He was definitely mad at me. "Emmett?" I whispered, but he ignored me. I nudged him with my shoulder, and he scooted away from me. The teacher was starting to explain a project that was due later in the semester so I hurriedly 

took notes on that, then flipped to a blank page and tried my best to draw a picture of me looking sad before scrawling 'I'm sorry' across the bottom and folding it carefully into a diamond shape. I wrote 'To The Guy Who Sits Next To Me And Is Looking Much Too Sad Right Now' in tiny letters before placing it in the center of the paper he had been doodling on. With the back of his hand he brushed it aside and my stomach sank. I had just been kidding; I hadn't meant to upset him. Part of me argued that this was probably a good thing, that all he did was make paying attention in class difficult, but now that he was ignoring me I missed it. I spent the rest of class trying to get his attention, but he acted as if I didn't even exist. Just before class ended he handed the pen he was using back to the girl in front of us and folded up his paper, shoving it in his pocket. He made a move to get up and before I could stop him he was out the door.

The rest of class was leaving as well and I rushed out the door after them, my open backpack in one hand and everything that had been out in front of me in the other. I just caught a glimpse of his head before he started going down the stairs and I rushed after him, weaving in and out of people. Rushing is never a very good idea for me, and sure enough on the second flight of stairs I dropped one of my books. When I stooped to get it all of the people behind me in the narrow stairwell had to wait, and I heard quite a few impatient remarks. As I was doing that, however, somebody going up the stairs knocked my backpack out of my hand, and to my horror it landed with the open end facing down the stairs. As if it was a nightmare I watched in slow motion as everything fell out of it, bouncing down the stairs and making a huge mess. I felt my face turn bright red and I tried to gather everything up as quickly as I could. Now people going down the stairs and those going up had to stop, I had never felt so many sets of eyes burning into me at once. Once I had grabbed everything in reach I zipped my bag shut and ran down the stairs as quickly as I could, no longer caring about anything I may have left behind. I could feel tears welling in my eyes, but I managed to get outside and around the building and into the parking lot before they began to fall. I had never been more humiliated in my life. But more so, Emmett was apparently not going to forgive me. I didn't know why it bothered me so much, I had spoken to him all of two times before today, but other than my roommates he was the only person in this city I knew, and he made me smile. Something I did altogether too rarely.

I felt my phone buzz in my pocket and seeing it was a text from Mike I flipped it open, expecting something that would cheer me up, even a little bit. I couldn't have been more wrong. It said 'i need rent u sent it yet'. It was the first I had heard from him since the night he called about the pictures and it just brought more violent tears to my eyes. Since I had decided to move here there had just been a gap between us. He was pulling away, and I missed him. He had been everything to me for so long, and now we didn't even hardly talk… I kept my head down, allowing my hair to form a curtain around my face. If anybody bothered to really look 

they would see that I was crying, but I doubted very much that anybody would. I began walking quickly toward the edge of campus, not really caring about my other two classes of the day. Neither of them had attendance policies and I didn't think I could face anybody after what had just happened. On some level I knew I was overreacting, but the stress of the move and starting school and money and Mike seeming to be losing interest and Emmett clearly deciding a friendship with me wasn't worth the trouble… I had always been good at bottling my emotions up, pretending nothing was wrong even when I knew I was lying to myself. The problem was when something small pushed me over the edge and made me lose it.

"You're going to need this for the project." Emmett's voice was cool and clipped, and before I could stop myself I looked back at him in surprise. When he saw the tears running down my cheeks his face instantly melted into a look of concern, and the hand that was holding out my copy of Hamlet which I had left in the stairway fell to his side. "Hey now, what's all this?" I tried to turn away, to avoid him, but he gripped my shoulder with one hand and tilted my face up to his with the other.

"I'm sorry. I shouldn't have tricked you like that." I didn't know what else to say, but he smiled down at me and I felt a weight lift off of my shoulders.

"If that's all you're crying about then stop right now. I'm not worth your tears." I shoved him at that, but he didn't budge. "I wasn't going to ignore you forever Bella, you know that right?" Something in my face must have given me away because he pulled me into a tight hug before I had a chance to argue. "I was just surprised at how worried I was considering I've known you for all of two class periods. I don't normally get like that." I leaned into him, trying to stem the flow of tears and get a hold of myself. It surprised me, how comfortable I was, and I felt the guilt hit me like a ton of bricks. What would Mike think if he saw me like this? I immediately pulled away, wiping away the last of my tears and putting a safe distance between the two of us.

"It wasn't just that. I had a spectacularly embarrassing moment on the stairway…" He was trying. Oh was he trying. But he couldn't help it. I could see his shoulders shaking, one of his hands clapped over his mouth to keep from laughing. "Please tell me you didn't see that…" He couldn't seem to hold it in anymore, and his laughter brought a new wave of redness to my face.

"How else would I know you left this behind?" He once again held up the Hamlet book I had forgotten about and I snatched it from him, immediately smacking him upside his head with it.

"Shut up, it was horrible."

"It wasn't that bad." I just raised my eyebrow at him and he started laughing again. "Ok, it was pretty awful. But hey, think of how many people you made laugh. You brightened all their days."

"I am not going to look at it that way. I refuse."

"Fine fine. You can sulk. But only for the rest of today. As of sundown I don't want to hear another word about it, understand?"

"Oh yeah? And what are you going to do if I decide it requires additional sulking time?" A devilish look came into his eyes and I instantly regretted my words.

"I'll make sure the teacher thoroughly hates us by the end of the week." I fully believed him capable of doing just that, if the teacher didn't hate us already. He seemed to take my silence as an agreement to stop sulking by sundown and started walking toward the parking lot, clearly expecting me to follow along behind him. "So since class started five minutes ago I'm assuming you're taking a self motivated field trip for the rest of today?"

"Yep. It's too dangerous for me to be around people today, it seems to be having a very negative effect." He laughed at that and slowed down until I was walking next to him.

"Well we'll get coffee and go to my place."

"Oh we will, will we?"

"Yep." I sighed and started to edge away, my truck was several rows over from where we were currently headed. He caught my arm, though, and started pulling me toward a very large Jeep.

"Emmett, I really can't. I have a ton of shopping to do since I currently have a couch in my room that isn't even mine and that is pretty much the extent of it…"

"Steve, you were planning on going to classes so this is bonus time. Also, it is very rarely sunny, and we are going to take advantage of that by getting coffee, going to my place, and jumping on the trampoline." I stopped in my tracks at that.

"How old are you Emmett?"

"Twenty-one."

"Wanna explain to me why on earth a twenty-one year old man in college has a trampoline?"

"Because they are the best." He said it perfectly matter-of-factly, as if everyone should know that and agree with him. He was right about the bonus time though. And shopping was pretty much the bane of my existence… it would be nice to put it off for a few hours… "Hurry up Steve!" It wasn't worth it to argue with him, I had a feeling no matter what I said he would win. And even though a trampoline would probably lead to me breaking something, it sounded like fun. So I found myself scrambling into his bright red vehicle and holding on for dear life as he pealed out of the parking lot. Five minutes later we were in a drive-through Starbucks line, and when I ordered a Grande Caramel Frappuccino he ordered 'the same thing, but bigger with more caramel'. Ten minutes later we were pulling into the driveway of a large brick house with several tall trees in the front yard. He was abnormally excited about parking in the driveway, but apparently he and his two roommates had an on-going competition for it. I didn't even pretend to understand why.

The inside of the house was surprisingly clean considering three college guys lived there. The kitchen was huge, with a large island and breakfast bar which was covered in newspapers, mail, books, and folders. The living room was no surprise, two couches and a chair and a big screen TV that took up nearly a whole wall that had seven or eight different electronic devices plugged into it. There was a sliding door from the living room to a back deck with a large grill, a table with seven or eight chairs, and a bar. Off of the deck was a large backyard with a trampoline in one corner. Apparently he hadn't been kidding. He let out a loud whistle and two dogs came tearing around the corner, barking madly.

"Lady, Grizzly, get over here!" I dropped to my knees as the dogs reached us, allowing them to lick my face as I scratched them behind their ears. One was a large brown boxer who seemed to have a massive amount of energy. The other was more laid back, and the most beautiful husky I had ever seen.

"This boy here is Grizzly, he's mine." He was fighting the boxer for a colorful rope, growling at the dog every time the dog growled at him.

"And who does this one belong to?" Lady had lain down next to me, her head in my lap, and was watching the other two with what I would swear was a mocking look in her eye.

"She's Edwards. He's one of my roommates." After a few minutes he finally managed to get the rope from his dog and threw it across the grass as hard as he could, laughing as both of the dogs ran after it.

"Come on, now's our chance!" He took off running across the yard and flung himself onto the trampoline. By the time I had reached it he was doing flips and bouncing much higher than I would ever dare go.

"I think I'll just stay down here and watch you." Just as I had settled myself on the ground he was behind me, scooping me up like I didn't weigh a thing and tossing me into the middle of the trampoline. I couldn't hold back a scream while I was air-born and he just laughed at me. "Emmett, you've seen how clumsy I am, if you make me jump on this thing I am going to die!" He ignored me however, pulling me to my feet beginning to jump, forcing me to jump with him.

"I'm not going to let you break anything or kill yourself. Now just relax and have some fun." He kept hold of my hand for several minutes, keeping me from falling whenever I started to lose my balance. I was surprised at how much fun I was having… the last time I had been on a trampoline I was maybe seven, and I had bounced right off onto the ground. I hadn't broken anything, but it had hurt like hell. After that I had avoided them like the plague. But, as I was now finding out, Emmett was right. They were 'the best'. By the time we had been out there for a good hour I could successfully land on my back and then bounce back up to my feet. He kept trying to get me to do a flip in the air, but I wasn't suicidal enough to try it. I knew I had to get going soon, and as I followed him into the house we heard the phone ringing. He went to answer it and immediately sent me an apologetic look and went into the garage, the door creaking loudly as he did. I was drawn down the hallway that I hadn't been down yet, following the soft sound of piano music. One of his roommates must have come home…

The first room I passed was a bathroom, again, surprisingly clean for a house full of boys. Across from that was a laundry room, then a half open door looking in on a neatly kept room with black and white pictures filling the walls. Next was a closed door, and at the end of the hall was a door that was only slightly open which the music was coming from. I didn't know why, but I couldn't help myself. I knew that music from somewhere, but I couldn't place where. I peeked into the room, but saw little more than a wall of shelves filled with books and CDs. Against that wall was a large bed, and the occupant of the room appeared to be sleeping. All I could see behind the mound of pillows and blankets he seemed to have collapsed into was one hand with long, pale fingers, and a bit of russet colored hair. I felt myself shifting forward, wanting to see the rest of him when the garage door made its hideous sound again and I jumped back, embarrassed that I had been poking around Emmett's house. I hurried back down the hall and met him at the front door.

"Sorry about that, it was work."

"Oh no problem. Shall we?" He nodded and we made our way back out to his Jeep, dancing poorly to the throbbing music as I directed him to the street in front of my building. He whistled loudly as we pulled up.

"This is quite the place here Bella. I'm impressed." I smiled at him, slightly embarrassed. It was pure luck that I got to live here, not anything to be impressed with.

"Thanks for today, it was a lot of fun." He smiled a broad smile at me and grabbed my phone out of my hand, programming his number into it.

"Next time you have a bad day you know who to call."

"Ghost busters?" He laughed loudly at that, hit a few more buttons on my phone and handed it back to me.

"See ya tomorrow Steve." He waited until I was in the lobby before pulling away, and I flipped open my phone to text him that I was a big girl and could find a door without supervision, but there was no 'Emmett' in my contacts. As I walked across the lobby and into the middle elevator I punched in the code before scrolling through my phonebook, wondering what else he could have put himself under. When I saw a mobile number for 'ghost busters' I burst out laughing, glad I was alone in the elevator. The boy was crazy.

When the doors opened I was somewhat surprised to find both Alice and Rosalie sitting at the breakfast bar, looking expectantly in my direction. Rose had a small smile gracing her lips, and Alice was fidgeting in her seat, absolutely beaming.

"Hi guys…" Alice jumped out of her seat and grabbed my hand before running upstairs, nearly pulling my arm out of my socket. Rosalie laughed behind us, and I heard her footsteps follow us up as well. We came to a stop in front of the closed door to my room, and I started to become concerned. What on earth were they so excited about?

"Ok, so I really hope you don't get mad at me, but I couldn't help it. I found your list on the table this morning about all the stuff you need to buy, with sad faces all over it by the way, and I saw that a lot of the stuff was circled and said 'used' next to it."

"And she showed me, and I agreed that buying a used mattress at the very least is disgusting." Rose barely got to say that short sentence before Alice chimed in again.

"So we decided to go shopping, and if you hate it you have to tell us and we'll return it all. But I really think you're going to like it." Oh no. No no no no no. They wouldn't… would they? "Meet your new room!" With that Alice pushed the door open and inwardly I groaned. They had. The room was beautifully furnished in black and red and silver. The bed frame, the bedside tables, the bookshelves, and a large desk were all made from black wood with silver hardware. The comforter was red and plush, and a mound of pillows made the bed look even more inviting. On the walls were small circular mirrors which served to amplify the natural light which made its way in. On the floor was a large red rug with black circles on it as well.

"Oh no, what's wrong? Do you hate it?" Alice sounded so sad when she asked that, it broke my heart.

"God no Alice, it's beautiful. But I can't afford any of this stuff…" They both laughed at that and I felt myself turn red.

"Don't worry about it. Consider it a moving in gift." I turned to gape at Rosalie. Was she insane? The stuff in this room had to be worth thousands of dollars…

"Thank you, but I can't. It's way too much…"

"Ok, consider it as me furnishing this room, and you just get to enjoy it. How about that?" I looked at Alice, and saw how excited she was. A quick glance at Rosalie and I realized neither one of them were at all worried about the money they had just spent. So, I did the only thing I could do. I threw my arms around them and hugged them, amazed at how lucky I was to have them as roommates.

**A/N: Finally, some Edward! Granted, only a tiny little bit, but there is more to come soon, I promise! Thank you so much to all of my wonderful reviewers, you keep me going! Also, thank you Savanna06 for helping me out with the dog decision, what you said was exactly what I had been thinking so thanks to you this chapter is getting put up tonight!**

**One last thing, if you guys are liking this story you should go check out my roommate's story. It's great fun! Her sn is Lovely Little Muse and the story is called Attached. Go have a look!**


	5. Starbucks Debacle

The next couple of weeks passed uneventfully. Emmett kept me amused all through Shakespeare class and had started texting me random lines from movies during my other two classes because, as he put it, class without Emmett just isn't worth getting up for. Living with Alice and Rosalie was effortless, I was actually a little surprised at how well I got along with them, the three of us just clicked. I called Mike nearly every night, and he was planning on coming to see me and meet my roommates in just a couple of weeks. Also, I was applying at place after place after place trying to get a job, but nowhere seemed to be hiring. I was doing alright moneywise for now, but in a couple of months if I didn't find anything I was going to be in real trouble. And, unfortunately, I wasn't finding anything.

School was starting to catch up with me as well, papers and projects, tests and presentations… I hadn't realized how lazy I had gotten about school while I had been living with Mike… The classes had been so easy and nothing I was even interested in, I had hardly ever studied. Now though I found myself staying up till early morning, and getting up again just a few hours later to finish up whatever I hadn't gotten to before running to class, always a minute or two late. Of course, Emmett was always even later than I was, so I didn't worry about it too much. The boy still didn't take notes, ever, but it didn't seem to matter, he got full points on all of the quizzes we had taken. So, when the teacher assigned a big project about Hamlet and Emmett turned to me with an adorably hopeful look on his face I agreed to partner up with him. Which was why I was frantically driving toward his house now, it was five fifteen and I was supposed to be there at five thirty to work on it. I knew he was going to give me hell if I was late since I glared at him every time he came to class late, but it had been a long day and I was tired and grumpy, and after a quick calculation in my head I decided I could make a quick stop at the coffee shop.

The second I parked I ran in, relieved that there was only one person in line in front of me. I hurried to stand behind him and silently willed him to hurry up. There was only one person behind the counter, a girl with a goofy smile plastered on her face.

"What can I get started for you?" She leaned against the counter a bit, bringing herself closer to the man in front of me. Apparently he was attractive, but I was too impatient to care. A quick glance showed he was lean and several inches taller than me, dressed in jeans and a leather jacket, with messy copper hair topping his head. _Ok, not bad. Now hurry up and order your damn coffee, I only have exactly ten minutes to get to Emmetts._

"How many shots of espresso are in a macchiato?" He had a surprisingly melodic voice, and the girl behind the counter giggled a bit and started playing with her hair.

"Well that depends on the size." Her voice had dropped several tones and I couldn't help but roll my eyes. "A venti comes with two, but for you I'd definitely throw in an extra, on 

me." Was she really trying to use espresso to pick him up? He seemed to be thinking the same thing, because he leaned away from the counter to look up at the menu again.

"You know what, I think I'll just get a vanilla latte."

"And do you want whip cream on that?" _Did she really just wink at him? You've got to be kidding me…_

"Sure, why not." She giggled again and grabbed a cup, writing more slowly than I had ever seen anybody write. I shifted on my feet, letting out a sigh. Only eight and a half minutes left… Before he even had chance to pay though his phone rang and the girl smiled and started making his drink, giving him the time to answer it.

"Hey. I'm on my way home now. Yes I am. My car doesn't make as much noise as your precious jeep; it never sounds like I'm driving." I couldn't hold back a sigh any longer, and he glanced quickly over his shoulder. "Ok, fine, yes I'm at Starbucks. Well are you going to pay me back this time?" The girl was finally done making his stupid vanilla latte… what kind of a guy orders a vanilla latte anyways? Hadn't he ever heard of just black coffee? It was the elixir of life.

"Can I get anything else for you?" He nodded his head and I folded my arms across my chest, sighing again. I was running late, I was tired, and I was cranky. I hadn't had a single drop of coffee all day, and if I wanted to have any chance of putting up with Emmet's ridiculous enthusiasm about everything under the sun then I needed coffee. Apparently he heard me, though, and this time he turned around further, taking in my annoyed stance and raising his eyebrow at me before turning back to the counter.

"Yeah, I need a venti caramel frappuccino." I heard a shout come from his phone, and he winced and held it away from his ear. "With extra caramel, apparently." I watched with dismay as the girl turned away from us again to make the next drink. I glanced at my phone and saw that I only had five minutes left, and I knew there was no chance of me making it to Emmett's on time anymore. This was just wonderful, he would never let me live it down. This time I didn't even notice the sigh that escaped me until he spun around fully, glaring at me.

"What exactly do you keep sighing so dramatically about?" The first thing I noticed were eyes with the most intense shade of green I had ever seen. For a moment I couldn't look away, but when they narrowed into a glare I took in the rest of his features. He was… beautiful. There really wasn't any other way to describe him. But the glare he was sending me put me on edge, and I felt my own eyes narrow.

"You're taking forever, and you aren't the only person here."

"Neither are you, and I was here first, so just uncross those arms of yours and wait patiently." I chose to ignore his little demand, though my frown did deepen.

"Not everybody has all afternoon to waste flirting with the coffee girl, I'm already running late, now can you please just hurry up?" I could make out somebody talking on the phone, and his face broke into a smirk.

"Yeah, go find Jasper. We wouldn't want him to miss out on an opportunity to get some coffee, would we?" My eyes widened at his words. I couldn't believe how much of a jerk this guy was being! "No, no. I'm not going to guess what he wants. Just go look for him. No, I'm not in any kind of a hurry." And with that he turned his back on me once again, and I had the strongest urge to kick him in the shin. Instead I tapped him on the shoulder, maybe a bit harder than was necessary, and waited for him to turn around.

"Can I at least order my drink and pay while you're waiting for whoever you're waiting for?"

"No." I was trying to stay civil. I really was, but this guy was infuriating.

"All I'm getting is a drip coffee; it will only take two seconds." He just shrugged his shoulders and turned away from me. _Fine, let him be a total ass. See if I care._

By the time he had finally hung up the phone, gotten his drinks, and paid I was five minutes late. He strolled out of the store, not a care in the world, even having the nerve to send another self-satisfied smirk over his shoulder at me before the glass door shut behind him. I quickly told the girl what I wanted, but almost as soon as she flipped the nozzle to release the coffee an ominous beeping filled the air, and she smiled apologetically before setting my cup aside and disappearing in back to get more coffee. It was official, Emmett was never, ever, ever going to let me forget this.

Of course, since it was me, as I went to pay I dropped my wallet and change went flying everywhere. I gathered it up as quickly as I could and rushed out the door, spilling scalding hot coffee on my hand as I went. I ignored it though, there weren't any cup holders in my truck, and in an attempt to avoid it happening again I took a few big gulps, cringing as it burned my tongue. It was worth it though, coffee always was. As I drove, and as the caffeine started to kick in, the guilt hit me. I really shouldn't have gotten so upset with the Starbucks guy. Just because I was in a bad mood didn't mean I had to bring everybody else down as well. I had no idea who he was though, I wouldn't be getting the chance to apologize.

When I pulled up in front of Emmett's house I glanced at my phone and groaned. Fifteen minutes late. Yup. I was going to hear about this every day for the rest of my life. I 

threw my backpack over a shoulder and rushed up to the door, knocking loudly. I heard loud footsteps run toward the door and Emmett flung it open, pulling me in and rushing back to the kitchen, yelling back to me over his shoulder.

"You've got to hear this story, my roommate Edward just had the craziest thing happen to him." I followed him, wondering what it could be, but when I heard the voice coming from the kitchen I stopped dead. It couldn't be, could it?

"I have no idea what her problem was, the girl was insane."

"Are you sure you didn't date her at some point and then blow her off or something? Nobody gets that upset about waiting for a coffee." That was a new voice I hadn't heard before, and I felt myself turn red. So maybe I had over-reacted a bit.

"Trust me, I would never date somebody so completely psycho." They all laughed at that, and any trace of guilt I had been feeling left me. He had met me for maybe ten minutes, and sure I had been a bit ridiculous, but he had been a total jerk himself, and I wasn't about to go around calling him psychotic. Before he had a chance to say anything else I stepped around the wall, not at all surprised to see the copper haired coffee Nazi. Emmett was leaning against the counter next to him, a giant caramel swirled drink in his hand. A blond boy was leaning against the far wall, a cup in his hand as well. I watched as Edward looked up at me, his eyes widening further than I would have thought possible. I just glared back at him.

"Bella, these are my roommates Edward and Jasper. So Edward was just at Starbucks and this crazy chick came in behind him and started screaming about how he was taking too long and…" He trailed off then, realizing I was looking at Edward as if I wanted him dead. His eyes dropped to the coffee cup in my hand, then swung up to his roommate, and his eyes widened as well, before he broke into a wide smile. "You're crazy coffee chick?"

"What are you doing here?" Apparently he decided to ignore the fact that Emmett had just introduced me and that clearly I was here for him.

"A project for school. And I didn't scream at you. Not even close."

"I never said you screamed at me."

"Oh? Well then why does Emmett think I am 'crazy coffee chick'?"

"I didn't have to exaggerate, it's not my fault you come off as crazy." We probably looked like petulant five year olds, both of us glaring heavily at each other with our arms crossed over our chests. Jasper looked like he was trying not to laugh, but Emmett had no such qualms and was nearly doubled over he was laughing so hard. One of my hands snapped out to hit his shoulder, and at the exact same time Edward's own arm flew toward Emmett as well, smacking him on the head.

"Hey now!"

"Oh shut up." Was all Edward said in response before turning and pushing the door to the backyard open, whistling loudly for the dogs. It didn't surprise me in the least that he was going to go sulk. Emmett was still chuckling and I threw a nasty look his way.

"Can we just get started on the project, please?"

"You're the one who was late, you never get to be impatient with me again." He was kidding, right? After Edward had been such an ass he was going to bug me about not being on time?

"It was your idiot roommate's fault I was late to begin with!"

"Doesn't matter. You've officially lost your right to impatience." I opened my mouth to argue with him, but shut it again with a sigh. It wasn't worth it, he would simply refuse to see any sort of reason and I'd end up giving up eventually anyways. Deciding to just ignore him I hitched my bag back onto my shoulder and went into the living room, settling myself on the couch and taking a few deep, calming breaths. I was surprised at how upset I was. It wasn't Emmett, he always pestered me, and while it was annoying, it usually just made me laugh. But Edward's comments had affected me more than I was willing to admit. So he thought I was crazy, I didn't even know him, why did it matter to me at all?

Through the wide window looking out over the backyard I saw him sit down on the grass, letting his dog Lady plop into his lap even though she was much too large to be a lap dog. The sun glinted off his copper hair and a small smile made its way onto his face when she licked his cheek.

"You know, for all your huffing and puffing, you sure aren't looking out that window like you hate him." As Emmett sat down on the couch next to me I punched him in the arm, turning to face him instead of the window.

"You live with a jerk."

"Oh I know, that whole silently taking everything in that Jasper does without ever telling you what he's thinking, what a douche."

"I can't believe you think that Bella. You didn't even give me a chance." I spun around to see Jasper standing right behind me, a hurt look on his face.

"No! That's not it- I didn't mean-" I felt the couch shaking a bit next to me and I turned to see Emmett trying to stifle his laughter. At that point Jasper started laughing as well and I smacked Emmett on the head yet again.

"STOP ABUSING ME!"

"You deserve it. You've got to stop torturing the poor girl."

"Thank you!" I turned to face Jasper again, relieved to find him smiling. At least one of Emmett's roommates was on my side.

"I don't torture her, she tortures me. Did you see how many times she's hit me since she got here?"

"Oh please. I've heard the stories. You torture her. And you Bella are a saint to put up with him." With that Jasper left the room before Emmett could argue with him. He crossed his arms across his chest, though, and slumped down in his seat.

"Stop pouting, it makes you look like an overgrown teddy bear."

"It does not!" He looked slightly horrified, and I hoped that for at least a few days he would think twice about pouting.

"Can we just get started on this project? Please? It's going to take a while and I really want to get a decent amount of sleep tonight." He grumbled some sort of unintelligible response, but pulled out his book and his laptop. As we started to delve into Hamlet I managed to put thoughts of Edward out of my mind, at least for now.

A/N: Hey, I'm sorry it took me so long to get this chapter out, it's the first one with Edward, I wanted it to be good. Though… I'm not sure I really think it is. If anybody out there wants to beta for me, please please please let me know, I need somebody other than my roommate telling me to work on my story. Anyhow, I hope you enjoy it!


	6. Heavy Heart

A few days later, toward the end of the week, Edward's opinion of me was still causing me to lose sleep. I truly didn't understand why his words were still echoing in my mind, other than the fact that he was Emmett's roommate we had absolutely no connection. In fact, if I wanted to I could easily avoid seeing him ever again. But for whatever reason, what he had said was still bothering me.

"Bella, you've got to let it go." Alice snapped me out of my thoughts and I felt myself blush. She had said the same thing to me over and over again for days.

"I know. You're right. I'll just think about Mike's visit instead." I smiled widely at her, trying to prove that I had, indeed, stopped thinking about Edward.

"I still can't believe how long you two have been together. Four years and you're only twenty one… I'd never be able to stand it." Alice shot a glare towards Rosalie but I just smiled at her.

"I've never been a dating girl. I like being in a relationship. I love that I can trust him no matter what, and that I know he'll always love me." Rose just rolled her eyes at me, but Alice's face took on a dreamy look.

"I want what you have Bella! How can you stand being so far away from him?"

"It's hard, but I'm busy. And he'll be here in just two days, knowing that helps a whole lot."

"We can't wait to meet him." Alice spoke for both her and Rosalie, and Rosalie threw a small smile my way. I knew she didn't have high hopes for Mike, she'd heard us arguing on the phone a few times and she firmly believed that if you spend more time arguing than enjoying each other then it wasn't worth it. Normally, I would agree, but it was just that the long distance thing was getting to him. We both knew it would be hard when I decided to go, but in the end we both knew it would be worth it.

"Are we still going out to dinner Saturday night?"

"Of course!" Alice's enthusiasm always amazed me. How did she have that much energy all the time? "I made reservations at seven thirty at Buca, but I'm going to have to meet you there, I work till seven and I won't have time to come back here."

"Yeah, I'm going to have to meet you guys there too, we just hired a new bartender at Pulse and I've got to be there to make him nervous on his first night."

"You enjoy being evil far too much Rose."

"It's not my fault it's fun to watch them squirm."

"Megalomaniac." Rosalie just smiled at me and shrugged.

"So what time is he getting here?" Alice's voice was muffled as she was pulling a bottle of wine out of the fridge while I grabbed three glasses from the cupboard. Rosalie, meanwhile, was sorting through the stack of movies we had rented for the night, searching for the one she wanted us to watch first.

"He's leaving at six Saturday morning so he'll be here before noon. I figured I'd show him the apartment, then we'd go get lunch and I'd show him around campus. Just, have a nice, relaxing afternoon."

"And other than dinner with us, any evening plans?" Alice raised her eyebrows at me suggestively and I felt myself blush.

"Not really. We'll probably just stay here and watch a movie or something."

"God that sounds boring. Really Bella, are you sure this guy isn't your cousin or something? Because from the sound of what you've got planned…" Her sentence came to an abrupt halt as I threw a pillow at her face before settling myself on the couch. "At least bring him to the club. You'll have an excuse to get all dolled up and show him just what he's been missing this past month and a half." I hated to admit it, but maybe the whole visit was going to be boring for him. I never really did much beside study and hang out at the apartment, I didn't have anywhere to take him.

"I'll see if he wants to go, ok?" Rosealie nodded in triumph and Alice glared at us both, as the movie was starting and she had a strict 'no noise of any kind' rule when it came to the classics. As the music began to play, and Holly Golightly filled the screen, wearing a party dress and eating a danish on an empty street in front of Tiffany's I let myself fall into the story. I had always loved the movie, and had watched it more times than I could count. Though I hadn't seen it since I had moved in with Mike. The one time I had gotten him to watch it he had complained through the whole thing, and at the end had laughed and given them 'a week to be happy before they both find somebody else with more money'. After that I kept my favorite movies to myself, knowing neither of us would enjoy watching them together.

The night passed quickly, after watching Breakfast at Tiffany's Alice put in An Affair To Remember, and by the time that was over the three of us had gone through a second bottle of wine, and I made my way up to my room feeling pleasantly tipsy. I had left my phone next to my bed while we had watched the movies, wanting to shut the rest of the world away for a while. A quick glance at it showed I had missed a couple of texts from Emmett, one asking what the quiz in class in the morning was going to be over, and one another an hour or so later complaining that I was ignoring him. Plopping down in the center of my bed I dialed his number, smiling faintly to myself.

"Hello?" My smile turned into a frown in record time. That wasn't Emmett on the other end, and I was pretty sure I knew just who it was.

"Where's Emmett?" Alright, so I hadn't meant for that to sound as harsh as it did.

"Outside, who is this?"

"Can you just give him the phone?" What was it about this boy that made me snap at him?

"Maybe I can if you tell me who this is." Ah. That's what made me snap at him, he was annoying. Really really annoying. Why had he even answered Emmett's phone?

"It's Bella." The other end of the phone was silent for a few moments, and I waited impatiently for him to go and find Emmett. I had never been a particularly patient person though. "So can I talk to Emmett then?"

"Why did the caller id say Steve?"

"Why does it matter?"

"Well if you're running around stealing peoples phones then it matters." Maybe it was the fact that I couldn't seem to put him out of my mind, or maybe it was just the wine, but I just had to know.

"Why are you such a jerk to me Edward?" Once again, my voice came out more harshly than I had intended, but sounding harsh was better than sounding hurt. I could just imagine the field day he would have if he knew how much his words were bothering me.

"You aren't exactly a ray of sunshine to me either you know."

"Well it's kind of difficult to be sweet and happy to somebody who tells all his friends I'm insane."

"First of I never said you were crazy. Second, it was just Jasper, Emmett already knew you were crazy."

"Emmett doesn't think I'm crazy! I don't even know why I try to talk to you, just give his phone to him." He didn't even bother replying to me, but I heard a door open and after some shuffling Emmett came on the line.

"Hello?"

"Hey Em."

"Ah, the lovely Bella. I should just hang up on you right now for ignoring me earlier." I rolled my eyes and I heard him chuckle, as if he saw my reaction.

"Please don't, I can't deal with any more loathing from your house tonight."

"What happened?" He sounded genuinely concerned, and I couldn't help but smile. Before moving here I hadn't had many friends, just Angela. Mike's friends were the only people I ever really spent time with. But here I seemed to have found people who really cared about me, it was a wonderful feeling.

"Your stupid roommate hates me for no reason is all."

"Edward doesn't hate you, it just takes him a long time to warm up to people. He's got a bit of a superiority complex."

"Oh really? I hadn't noticed." He laughed at that, and a wave of tiredness washed over me. "Hey, you wanted to know what the quiz was over, right? Well it's on the first three acts, but we have to have the fourth act read as well." A few more minutes of talking about class and I said goodbye, surprised by how tired I suddenly was. I had told Mike I would call him tonight, but I just didn't have it in me. Instead I climbed into my absurdly comfortable bed and was asleep within moments.

Friday passed quickly, and other than a quick call to Mike to make sure he was still planning on getting here around noon I didn't do much. After classes I had settled into the couch and read all afternoon. I went to bed early, relishing in the extra sleep I was able to get for the first time in quite a while. My alarm went off at seven on Saturday morning, and I woke up feeling like a little kid on Christmas. I had never gone so long without seeing Mike as I had since moving here, and I was going to get to see him today!

I ate a quick breakfast before thoroughly cleaning the apartment, not that it was very messy. Then I took a long hot shower and spent more time than I usually did on my hair, wanting to look good for Mike. Once I was dressed I threw my towel in the laundry and a quick glance at the clock showed that I only had another half an hour to wait. I couldn't seem to stop smiling, and after just a couple of minutes I decided to call him, just to make sure he was navigating his way through the city alright.

The phone rang seven times before he finally answered, his voice groggy and rough.

"Hello?"

"Hey Mike! How's the drive going? I can't wait to see you." There was a long pause on the other end, then a deep sigh.

"What time is it Bells?" My heart started to fall at his question, but I didn't want to believe it. He wouldn't do that…

"Just after eleven thirty. Why didn't you just check on the stereo?" Again there was a long pause, and I slumped heavily onto the couch. "Mike?"

"Look babe, I had a hard time getting to sleep last night. I must have slept through the alarm."

"So, you haven't even left yet?"

"It's a damn long drive Bells. I needed some sleep." His voice was harsh and clipped, and I took a deep breath before I said anything else, trying to keep my voice steady.

"You're right, I'm sorry. I'm glad you didn't try to make the drive while you were half asleep." I was horribly disappointed, but telling him so wouldn't do any good. The line was quite for a few minutes, and finally I heard him shuffling around.

"I'll get going now, ok Bells?"

"Yeah, sounds good. I can't wait to see you, drive safe." He made a sound of agreement and the line went dead. I slowly pulled the phone away from my ear, my chest feeling painfully heavy. I knew his reasoning made sense, but six extra hours of sleep? He could have at least called me… I felt tears form in my eyes and shook my head, forcing them away. I was not going to let myself get upset about this, I would still get to see him today, and that was something to look forward to.

A quick glance around the apartment showed that there was nothing left for me to do. A few minutes of flipping through the T.V. channels and I was painfully bored. I had already spent the whole morning waiting excitedly for Mike's arrival, and now I was faced with another six hours of waiting and nothing left to do. Alice and Rosalie were both at work, and I was too anxious to read.

Flipping open my phone I flipped through my contacts until I reached Emmett and hit send. I didn't really expect him to answer, most weekends he went out of town with Edward and Jasper to camp, or hike, or hunt or something like that. I didn't really pay attention when he started talking about it. So when he answered after just two rings I was quite surprised.

"Hey Em."

"Bells, hey. I didn't think I'd hear from you at all this weekend, what with the boyfriend being in town and all." His voice held a bit of a bitter tone, and I couldn't help but smile. He always got grumpy when I talked about having a boyfriend. He had decided early on that if 'that guy' as he usually referred to him hadn't cared enough to move with me, then he didn't deserve me. He filled the big brother role very well.

"He won't be here until later, have you had lunch yet?" He paused for a moment, and I wondered if he was going to ask why Mike was running late. I was relieved when he didn't. I didn't know how steady my voice would be.

"Nope, I was just getting ready to throw some burgers on the grill though. If you want I'll put one on for you."

"Are you sure? I'm not interrupting some roommate bonding thing am I?" His deep chuckle brought a smile to my face, and I started throwing things in my purse.

"Trust me, we've bonded enough. Come over, I'll keep you entertained until _he_ gets here." I couldn't help but laugh at that.

"Thanks Em. I'm on my way." I started to pull the phone away from my ear when I heard him call out my name.

"Bella, you're ok, right? You sounded kinda sad at first." His concern warmed my heart, and I felt my smile widen.

"I'm wonderful now Emmett. Thanks. See you in a few."

**A/N: Hey everyone, first of all I want to say thank you thank you thank you to all of my wonderful reviewers. Next, I want to tell you how sorry I am that it took me so long to get this rather boring filler chapter up. Finals happened, then moving happened, then I went to my pre-session for archaeological field school for a week. SO basically I fail at updating and I'm sorry!! And there is more bad news. I'm going to do my absolute best to get another chapter up before I leave for field school again, but then I am gone until the end of July. In the middle of the wilderness. Sleeping in a tent. In grizzly bear country. So that means no updates. I'm sorry!! I promise not to abandon this story though!! I hope you all will keep reading!**


	7. Little Lies

When I got to Emmett's house the front door was unlocked, so I just walked right in. He tended to make fun of me whenever I knocked and waited for an answer. According to him, if the door is unlocked then they have no right getting annoyed at people coming in.

I could hear music floating down the hallway and I couldn't help but roll my eyes. Hopefully Edward was a vegetarian and would stay far away from the burgers Emmett was grilling, then I wouldn't have to see him.

I found Emmett on the patio, frantically flapping his hands at flames which were pouring out of the beat up black grill.

"Need some help there buddy?" He glanced at me just long enough to throw me a smile before turning back to the obvious problem in front of him.

"Nope, it's all under control." As he said that the flames got a bit bigger, and I choked back a laugh.

"You sure about that?"

"Yup. It's just angry at me."

"Well, what did you do to it?" I had just realized that Emmett was wearing an apron with frills on it, and I couldn't keep from laughing any more.

"I may have accidentally dropped something kind of flammable down into the grill." I watched the flames get even bigger and stepped forward, pushing him out of the way. I quickly shut off the propane and shut the lid of the grill, letting the fire burn itself out. He had crossed his arms and was pouting at me, and I just raised an eyebrow at him.

"How do you accidentally drop something flammable into the grill? And flapping at the fire wasn't going to put it out. If it weren't for me pretty soon it would have blown up and you'd be in quite a bit of pain right now. So stop that look right now and thank me." I heard laughter coming from the doorway and turned to see Edward and Jasper both hunched over, laughing and gasping for breath.

I imagine the whole scene looked pretty comical, me with my hands on my hips glaring up at Emmett, who had a good foot of height on me. Him wearing that ridiculous apron, his shoulders hunched, looking sadly at the grill which was still spitting black smoke. And if it had been just Jasper, I probably would have laughed as well. But seeing Edward laughing at me made me cringe. So I turned away from them and grabbed the tongs hanging from the grill before throwing it open. A huge cloud of smoke billowed out at me, but I ignored it, using the tongs to pull the metal grill to the side enough to fish the charred remains of an oven mitt out from below it. Only Emmett would have been able to manage getting something like that under the grill on accident.

"Were the burgers even on it yet?" Edward seemed to have recovered his voice first, and I heard Emmett mumble no. I checked the grill one last time to make sure nothing remained of the 

unfortunate piece of fabric before turning it back on, and to a much lower setting than Emmett had put it on. I was starting to get the feeling that he didn't cook often.

"Where are the burgers Em?"

"In the kitchen, why?" He looked at me suspiciously and I shoved past Edward, who was still blocking the doorway, and I heard Emmett follow behind me. "Why do you want to know where they are Bella? They're perfect, leave them alone!" I turned and glared at him over my shoulder, stopping him dead in his tracks.

"You've lost your burger rights buddy. In fact, I think you've lost grilling privileges all together."

"What?? You can't do that! You don't live here!"

"Jasper? Are you willing to enforce the 'don't let Emmett near the grill ever again' rule?"

"Absolutely. I think it's in all of our best interests." Emmett sputtered behind me, before spinning to face Edward.

"You're on my side, right? You think it's a stupid rule, right?" Edward looked over Emmett's shoulder, his eyes locking with me.

"Yup, ridiculous. I'm on your side." His eyes said something different than his lips, though. His eyes said that he didn't care at all about whether Emmett was right or not. Rather, it was that he couldn't stand agreeing with me about anything. My eyes narrowed and I felt an intense urge to throw something at his smug face.

"Fine. The two of you can eat burgers that are burned to a crisp and then deal with an exploding grill. But not until AFTER I make burgers for Jasper and I that will actually be edible." I grabbed half of the store-bought patties into a bowl, cracked an egg into them, seasoned them, and mashed them together before forming my own patties. Store bought ones were never as good as handmade ones. As I was taking my anger out on the unfortunate ground beef Edward had made his way into the living room and was lounging on the couch, Jasper had disappeared outside, and Emmett came over to sit on the counter next to me.

"Bella?" His voice was gentle, and with a sigh I started fixing the other half of the burgers as well.

"What Em?" I was already feeling badly about getting so worked up, I didn't know why but Edward just brought out the worst in me.

"Jasper is an excellent griller. Why don't we let him take over and we'll go for a walk or something." I peeked at him through my hair and saw the concern in his face and felt my heart sink. He was being serious, not something he did very often.

"Am I really that much of a basket case?" My voice came out sounding much more pathetic than I had wanted it to and I couldn't help but cringe.

"Yup. Let's go. I have a feeling you aren't going to talk about anything as long as Eddie dearest is in the other room."

"Very astute of you." I washed my hand off quickly and followed him toward the front door, relaxing a bit as I pulled it shut behind me. We walked down the sidewalk in silence for a long while, I wasn't ready to talk yet and he seemed content to wait for me to tell him, rather than trying to draw it out of me.

"Edward is a jerk." He chuckled at that, and as I opened my mouth to say more he jumped in.

"He didn't even do anything to warrant pissing you off today."

"He didn't have to. Just him existing is enough." Even as the words came out of my mouth I realized how childish and immature they sounded.

"Don't you think that maybe, just maybe, there is something else bothering you?" I sighed and fell silent, not wanting to complain to him. But after walking another couple of blocks we reached a little park and both sat down on the swings, and I decided he deserved an explanation.

"Mike was supposed to be here by noon today."

"But?"

"But, I called him at eleven thirty and he was still asleep." Emmett didn't say anything, and suddenly all the things I had been afraid to voice out loud came tumbling out. "I just miss him so much, this is the longest we've been apart in four years. And it wouldn't be nearly so bad if I could just talk to him, but every time we're on the phone we just end up fighting… He resents me for coming out here, I just know it."

"Bella-" Emmett tried to interrupt me but I ignored him and kept talking, almost forgetting there was anybody listening.

"Maybe moving was a huge mistake. I never thought it would be this hard for him."

"Bella-" Again I ignored him, now I really was just talking to myself.

"Maybe I should just move back at the end of the semester…"

"Damnit Bella will you listen to me?" I turned to face him, surprised at the intense tone of his voice. I'd never heard him sound so stern before. "That guy is treating you like crap and you deserve a thousand times better than that." I opened my mouth to argue but he cut me off before I had a chance to. "Stop trying to defend him. Sure long distance is hard but that doesn't give him the right to fight with you every time you talk to him. And now he's going to be six hours late for the first time he's seen you since you moved? He's an ass! God, if you were my girlfriend I'd have been six hours early!"

"I'd have still been asleep." It was the first thing that popped into my head and he looked at me with astonishment, then slowly shook his head.

"Alright, fine. I know you don't want to hear anything bad about Mr. Wonderful, so forget I said anything. I just hope you know you deserve better." We both fell silent then, I was looking at my feet but I could feel his eyes on me, waiting for me to say something. I didn't have anything to say, though. Somewhere deep down I knew he was right, but I still firmly believed that the distance was the reason things had become so difficult for me and Mike. And the reason for the distance was me, so how could I blame him for any of this?

"The burgers are probably done, we should head back." I pushed myself away from the swing and started walking, not bothering to wait for him to follow. But soon enough I heard his heavy steps behind me, and I jumped a bit when his arm fell around my shoulders.

"Where did you live before this semester again?"

"Forks."

"And are there a lot of things to do in Forks?"

"No…" I answered cautiously, having no idea where his line of questioning was leading.

"Well then you're really going to have your work cut out for you."

"What on earth are you talking about Em?"

"Entertaining me." I just looked at him blankly, still not knowing what he was going on about. He smiled widely at me and inwardly I groaned. That smile meant trouble. "Since there is nothing to do in Forks you're going to have your work cut out for you entertaining me."

"And why, exactly, would you be in Forks?" His eyes widened and he clutched his chest dramatically.

"How could you even ask such a thing my Bella? If you move I'd have to follow. Now that I know what life is like with you around, I'd never be able to stand it without you. Every time I saw somebody trip tears would come to my eyes, because it would remind me of you. Every time somebody blushed bright red, I would remember you and would have to fight a breakdown. Every time-" His speech was unexpectedly cut off with a cough as I elbowed him in the side as hard as I could.

"I think you'd survive."

"Oh I don't know about that, really I don't. You're addictive Bella. Why do you think I actually go to that stupid Shakespeare class?"

"It's because you know I'll kick your butt if you if you don't." He burst out laughing at that and as the house came into sight I pulled away from him, running toward the front door. I hoped that when we went inside he would let the whole conversation go, and it turned out I was right. But only because 

my toe caught on the doorstop and I fell into the house, managing to scrape my arm on the way in. The next couple of minutes were spent in a frantic (on Emmett's part) search for band-aids and me turning bright red as Edward passed us on his way to his room. So I was sitting on the floor next to the front door with my arm bleeding, there was no need for him to look at me as if I was patient at a mental hospital. The second his back was turned I stuck my tongue out at him, and then felt myself turn even redder as I realized how ridiculous I was being.

Luckily Edward had eaten while we were at the park, and I didn't have to see him for the rest of the afternoon. Jasper, Emmett and I sat outside, tossing scraps to the dogs and just enjoying the rain-free weather. Soon enough it was time for me to go, and as I headed back to the apartment my excitement started to return. So his visit was starting a little later than I had planned, I was still going to see Mike for the first time in ages. That was something to be happy about. By the time I got in the elevator I had decided to just forget about the whole morning, I wasn't about to waste what little time I had with him being mad at him. No matter what Emmett said, Mike's behavior was just a response to me moving away. I wasn't going to let it destroy our relationship.

Dinner was going to be fairly casual, and I knew we would be stopping back here before going to Pulse, so I just changed into a nicer pair of jeans and a black scoop neck sweater. I wanted to do something with my hair, curl it maybe, but I knew it would just end up falling straight around my face within a couple of hours anyways. I heard my phone buzzing from where I had set it on my bed-side table and I hurried to answer it.

"Hello?"

"Hey babe." I felt a smile make its way across my face. Mike sounded like he was in a good mood. "I just parked. Once I'm inside, where do I go?"

"You're here already?" I was surprised, I figured he'd be at least another half an hour. When he answered I could hear the smile in his voice.

"Yeah, well, I already wasted so much time today, I may have sped a little. So, where do I go?"

"I'll come down and meet you in the lobby." I heard his phone click and I quickly shut mine as well, shoving it in my pocket as I ran down the stairs, keeping a firm grip on the railing. The last thing I needed was to break my ankle trying to get down to meet him. The elevator felt like it was moving painfully slowly and I felt myself bouncing on my heels in anticipation. The moment I realized what I was doing I forced myself to stop. I had enough odd mannerisms of my own, I didn't need to start picking up Alice's as well.

As the doors slid open I hurried out, scanning the lobby. Soon enough I found Mike, standing near the doors awkwardly, his hand stuffed in his pockets, a duffle bag slung over his shoulder, and his eyes flicking around wildly, as if trying to take everything in as quickly as possible. When his eyes landed on me his features filled with relief and he hurried across the marble floor towards me.

"Bells." I met his lips with a smile and couldn't help letting out a sigh of contentment as he wrapped me in his arms. It was hard to believe it had been nearly two months since he had held me like this. Too soon, in my opinion, he pulled away from me, looking around the lobby again in awe.

"You know, you told me you were living in a really nice building but you could have warned me about just how nice it is. I wouldn't have worn just a plain old t-shirt." I laughed at that and caught one of his hands in my own.

"Come on, I'll show you the apartment." As the elevator door closed behind us I stepped closer to him, sliding my arms around his back. "I've missed you so much, I can hardly believe you're here." He smiled down at me, placing a quick kiss on my forehead.

"I missed you too Bells. So what floor do you live on?" I was somewhat taken aback at his sudden change of topic, but decided not to question it.

"The top floor. It's the penthouse, actually. Alice's dad owns the building, so I can actually afford it."

"Alice, is that one of your roommates?" Inwardly I frowned. I had talked about Alice and Rosalie nearly every single time I had called him since I had moved in.

"Yup, Alice and Rosalie. You'll get to meet them later tonight at dinner."

"Dinner?" I realized then that I had never told him about our dinner plans. I had meant to, but I had always forgotten about it by the time I actually got him on the phone.

"Yeah, Alice got us reservations at Buca in about an hour. It's a great restaurant, you'll like it a lot. And they can't wait to meet you." He sighed heavily beside me, but the elevator doors slid open before he could say anything. I watched his face as the apartment came into view, and his eyes widened more than I thought was possible.

"Holy shit Bells." He pulled his hand from mine quickly, moving into the apartment to take it all in, dropping his bag as he did. He spun around with a look of pure shock on his face. For a moment I wondered if that is how I had looked when Alice had first brought me in. "This place is incredible. No wonder you never wanted to come see me. My apartment looks like crap compared to this." This time the frown made its way onto my face. His place? I had lived there with him for two years and was still paying half the rent. When had he started thinking of it as his place? But more importantly, he thought I didn't want to come visit him?

"Mike, I would have been there in a heartbeat if it wasn't for the school work. It takes up all my time…" He laughed at that, turning away from me.

"Right. With an apartment like this you're probably having parties every other night."

"I never liked parties Mike, and I like them even less when they're taking place where I live. I'm not lying, other than the occasional movie night with the girls all I ever do is study or look for a job." He 

rolled his eyes and I bit my tongue to keep from saying anything else to him about it. I didn't want to fight with him tonight.

"So, do I get to see the rest of it?"

"Of course!" I led him up the stairs, pointing out Alice and Rosalie's rooms as we passed them before leading him into my room.

"Wow, where'd you get all this furniture? It must have cost a fortune."

"Alice likes to decorate, it came with the room." It wasn't exactly a lie, but I still felt a little guilty about it. He sat down on the edge of the bed, seeming to accept my answer just fine.

"There's no T.V. in here. What a drag."

"I've never liked having a T.V. in my room, you know that."

"We always had a T.V. in our room." 'I never liked it.' I didn't say it out loud though, it just wasn't worth it. Instead I smiled and sat down next to him, catching his hand again.

"We don't have to leave for almost an hour, what do you want to do?" He smiled at me for a moment before pulling his hand from mine again and heading out the door. He called back over his shoulder something about the flat screen T.V. downstairs and I felt my face fall. My phone buzzed in my pocket and I heard some sports show turn on downstairs, so I pulled it out and flipped it open, knowing I wouldn't be getting Mike's attention for a while. Seeing it was a text from Emmett I flopped back on the bed before opening it.

**Feeling better?**

I couldn't help but sigh. I wasn't really. Mike was here, I should be ecstatic. Things just felt so different than they had used to.

**Yup. It was just an off morning. Tell Jasper thanks again for the burgers.**

It only took him a moment to reply.

**Actually I found out Edward did the cooking. Jasper just didn't want to tell you. Congrats, you've got mister 'I'm so tough' Jasper scared of little itty bitty you.**

I almost laughed at that, but at the same time I was somewhat ashamed of myself. It really was time for me to stop letting every little thing Edward did bother me so much. Taking a deep breath I typed out another message and sent it before I had a chance to change my mind.

**Tell him thanks then. They were good.**

I headed down the stairs then, settling myself on the couch next to Mike. He was utterly involved in the people talking on the screen, something about somebody's stats… I had never been one 

to follow sports. When the phone buzzed in my hand I flipped it open and couldn't help but laugh at it's contents. Mike shushed me and I glared at him, not that he noticed.

**I told him. He fell off his bed. I think you might have given him a stroke.**

The rest of the hour passed in silence, and when the show ended I quickly shut off the T.V. before another one came on.

"Ready to go to dinner?" He sighed heavily but got up and followed me out of the apartment. The restaurant was only a couple of blocks away, and it would take less time to walk than it would to find parking. However, the second we turned away from the parking lot Mike started to grumble.

"Why can't we just drive?" He sounded like a petulant five year old.

"Because we'll end up parking even further away than we are now. Saturday night this part of downtown is absolutely packed." He mumbled something but I wasn't sure what, and I didn't really want to know. We walked the rest of the way in silence, and even though he was right next to me I felt the distance just as strongly as I had when he was hours away. It hurt, so much more than I had imagined it could, and the worst thing was I didn't know what to do to fix it.

**A/N: Alright, so longer than usual, but not as long as I wanted it to be. My goal was to get through the restaurant and the club, but I am exhausted and I have a million and a half things to do before I leave for field school. This is probably the last chapter until the end of July, and I'm sorry!! But I'll be working on it in a notebook while I'm gone, and hopefully I'll be able to update really regularly when I get back.**

**Thank you again to all my wonderful wonderful wonderful reviewers, I don't know what I would do without you!**


End file.
